


Sleep

by Navyblueyoucallmesexy



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Adventures are fun, Angst, Best Friends, F/M, I actually will finish this, Idk tags are hard, Life on the TARDIS, Melissa Majoria, PTSD exists, Rating will change, Rose can't sleep, What's Rose really scared of, best space friends, but it's not that serious, fun and playful, i should be writing an essay, oh no, other stuff, sleep problems, ten cares, to angst af
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-20
Updated: 2017-04-20
Packaged: 2018-10-21 08:56:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,842
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10681989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Navyblueyoucallmesexy/pseuds/Navyblueyoucallmesexy
Summary: "We'll have a quick pop to the Medusa Cascade and fill her up, eh?" He said, patting and stroking the big central column. "My girl needs a rest.""Yeah and a cuppa too." Rose replied, yawning."I wasn't talking about you."Life with the Doctor is amazing but it carries darkness and lately, Rose has been having trouble sleeping.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, so this all begins straight after the event of S2Ep2 Tooth and Claw and will end before Ep3 School Reunion. 
> 
> Have a lovely read :) comments and kudos are always welcome.

  
Rose sighed and leant against the console with a grin, watching the Doctor fiddle with dials and buttons for the hundredth time. She recognised the movements. A couple twists here, roll the wheel, smack a button, pull the lever and- tada. The room shuddered as they wheezed into the vortex.

"Where to?" She asked, watching the light from the core dance across his face.

He glanced up from the Tardis screen with a half smile and a raised eyebrow. "Oh, Ephte Major," he said, tucking his hands into his pockets and walking around the console as he spoke. "a quick stop by Ruta 3 and then I was thinking we spend a while in the Inokshi System, Urbanka specifically, it's a beautiful place. Or well, it was, before the radiation. But first-" the Doctor stopped, his words coming to a halt as he stared down at Rose's hands.

She blinked and looked down at her own hands resting on the console and back at the Doctor. "What?"

"Your hands." He said quietly with a nod of his head.

Rose stared down at her hands and raised them up to her face a little, trying to see what the Doctor could see. They were a little bruised, cut in a few places, but that was all. "What about them?" She said, holding them closer to her chest.

The Doctor rolled his eyes and ran a hand through his hair. "You're hurt."

Laughing, Rose let her hands fall by her sides. "It's only a couple bruises."

The Doctor reached forward to grab her hand and Rose moved it further away, behind herself. "Let me look."

"I'm fine, honestly." She said, shaking her head and avoiding eye contact best she could.

"Rose." He mumbled in that firm way of his. She looked up to see him waiting patiently with his hand out in front of him, his eyes doing the I'm-an-ancient-genius thing. Reluctantly, she held out both hands and muttered under her breath.

"See? Fine."

He raised an eyebrow again, quite seriously before studying her hands carefully. He flipped them over with soft hands and narrowed his eyes at the marks. Rose hadn't bothered to look at her injuries before he'd pointed them out. She had two dark rings around each wrist with a few small cuts from the edge of the metal shackles she's been chained up with. There were bruises along the meat of her thumb too, in the creases of all her fingers where they'd been pulling the chains in an attempt to pull them off the wall.

It hadn't hurt at all at the time but now she felt a dull ache in her palms.

He ran his fingers down her knuckles and rolled each joint between expert thumb and finger, gently enough not to press the bruises. He moved up her hands to the purple-blue rings around his wrists and manipulated them individually.

"Ah!" She gasped as he moved her right wrist. "What did you do that for?!" She yelled, snatching her sore hand back and holding it close.

The Doctor held his hands up in surrender. "It's a sprain. You've been favouring your left all night, I knew something was wrong."

"Not until you pointed it out!" She complained, rubbing the offending wrist with a deep frown.

"Epinephrine." The Doctor explained, "Commonly known as Adrenaline. The human body's natural survival instinct. Werewolf chasing you down hallways? Adrenaline spike. It's reduces the signals from other parts of your body to your brain so you're just not feeling it for a while. Your body was full of it all night with everything that was happening. It's only just wearing off now."

"Great." Rose grumbled sarcastically under her breath.

"Oh don't be a baby about it." the Doctor grinned, patting her on the shoulder before steering the grumpy human around the console. "Anyways, I'm the Doctor. Just the person you need."

Rose glared at his smile. "It's just a name. You can't sonic my wrist better."

"Not sonic, no..." he said, thinking hard. "Ha! Yes! Of course! Good old first aid... " He jumped, running around the console and dropping to his knees before pulling up the grating on the floor.

Bits of junk flew around the console room as he searched inside the floor, a tube, a crystal, a piece of celery. Rose held her delicate wrist and sat on the jumpseat with a thump.

You would have thought that Rose would have given up on asking questions a while ago, but - "What are you doing now?" She asked, exasperated.

"Looking for the first aid thing... the..."

"The...?"

"Nano-genes!" He shouted, holding up a small white rectangle triumphantly in his fist.

The look of glee on his face cheered Rose up a little, like he'd discovered sherbet dip. "What's that?" She asked with a little smile.

"Nano-genes." He repeated, replacing the grating and standing, fixing his suit. "Remember?"

Rose blinked.

"Jacks ship? The ambulance? World War Two? Ringing any bells?" He said, waving the little rectangle around.

Rose nodded, remembering exactly what he meant. Jack had used nano-genes to heal Rose the very first time they met. She'd had rope burns and the nano-genes had fixed them right up. Although after learning about what else they could do it was hardly surprising. "Yeah, they heal right?"

"Yep." He said, tossing the rectangle at Rose and apparently expecting her to catch it with her gammy hand. She fumbled with her left and dropped it before looking up at the Doctor with a blank stare. "Sorry." He replied, stifling a laugh.

With a sigh, she leant down and picked it up. The rectangle was just a little bit shorter than a pen and about as thick, a shiny white plastic with a thin green crescent in the middle. Green moon on the side. she remembered the Doctor saying, That's the universal symbol for hospitals.

"Press the button." The Doctor said, leaning on the back of the jumpseat. "Hold it between your hands and press it."

"It's not going to give me a gas mask face or something is it?" She asked warily.

"Those nano-genes had never seen a human before. Don't worry, these ones are perfectly safe." The Doctor explained.

Trusting him completely, she took and deep breath and pressed the button.

"Mostly anyway." He continued.

Rose panicked for a fraction of a second until the small flecks of golden light appeared. They floated around her hands and danced over her wrists until the bruises faded and the cuts had healed. Eventually the lights dimmed and disappeared completely.

Tentatively, she stretched her hands and tested the movement in her right wrist. It felt as normal as ever. Her knuckles clicked as she stretched.

"Thanks." She said quietly, handing the nano-gene pen back and stifling a yawn. Bloody hell, it'd been a long day. Or two.

He took it and pushed it into the inside pocket of his jacket. "Welcome. Right, Ephte Major?" He grinned, fingers wriggling as he ran over to the console.

Rose clapped her hands together and rubbed them on the denim of her miniskirt, watching him press buttons again. "Uh, I could do with some food, Doctor. Sleep too, actually. Could we catch a break?"

He stopped, comically frozen with his hands on different buttons and his foot against a lever. "Oh. Sure, yeah. Break. I love a Kitkat." He said with a laugh at his own terrible joke. "We'll have a quick pop to the Medusa Cascade and fill her up, eh?" He said, patting and stroking the big central column. "My girl needs a rest."

"Yeah and a cuppa too." Rose replied, yawning.

"I wasn't talking about you."

 

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

Rose threw her arm out of the bed as she rolled over, glaring up at the dark ceiling. For not the first time on the Tardis, she wondered what time it was. Was it the middle of the day back on the Powell Estate? Late evening? It felt like very early in the morning, but that might just be because of the lighting. She yawned and imagined her mother across the hall, snoring under her covers and tried to picture she was home.

She wasn't homesick per se, Rose rarely felt homesick, it was more for comfort. Rose's dreams weren't exactly ice cream and rainbows at the minute. Not even a cheeky Robbie Williams.

No, her latest dreams hadn't been featuring the delicious pop icon. They'd recently been featuring Daleks. Sometimes little boys in gas masks, regeneration, cat-nuns, reapers and now, werewolves.

So Rose Tyler was obviously struggling to sleep.

She sighed and slapped her forearm over her face, willing herself to sleep. It didn't work. Reluctantly, she lurched her way out of the warm covers, slipped into some fuzzy socks, and stumbled her way down to the galley to make herself a brew.

Roses' favourite place in the Tardis for a warm cuppa at night was the worn old jumpseat in the console room and she was slowly making her way there when she heard the terrible singing.

"Too high, can't come down, losing my head, spinning 'round and 'round... Do you feel me now..."

Rose grinned for the first time in several hours as she stepped into the doorway of the console room and lifted her mug to her lips. The Doctor was half under the console, fiddling as usual, singing Toxic at full volume.

"With a taste of your lips, I'm on a ride..." Rose snorted a laugh into her mug and had to hide behind her hand to stay quiet. Who knew the Doctor had such an impressive range? "You're toxic I'm slipping under. With a taste of poison paradise, I'm addicted to you, don't cha know that ya-"

"So this is what you do at three am." Rose deadpanned, laughing hard as he startled and banged his head on something inside the console.

"Bloody.. Ow." He mumbled to himself as he wiggled out and sat up. "Britney is the everyman's Chopin, Rose. Queen of pop. Boy, does she know how to party." He said, rubbing his forehead and rearranging his hair.

"Right." He always had an answer for everything. Rose beamed, feeling her tongue get caught between her teeth again. "Bet you and Britney used to do karaoke night together, right?"

"Uh, no. I knew her more in the 2007 era. I shaved the back bits." He said with a face.

"What?"

"Nothing, you'll see." He brushed it off with a flick of his wrist and picked up a piece of metal, polishing it on an old rag. Rose smiled anyway, part of the reason she loved the Doctor was the bits she couldn't understand. "What are you doing wandering the halls at three am, anyway? Can't sleep?"

Her smile dropped a little, just enough for him to notice, before she fixed it again. She'd been too distracted by the Doctor's astounding rendition of Toxic and forgotten why she was really there. "I'm fine. I just needed a walk."

The Doctor raised his eyebrows and looked pointedly at her feet. "I see very little to no walking occurring."

"Well I didn't know you were going to be in here did I?" Rose parried back, feelings a little defensive.

The Doctors eyebrows slipped further upwards and he raised his hands into a surrender. He didn't say anything, but his eyes clearly read 'Whoa, calm down Jackie.'

Rose rolled her eyes and looked back down into her tea. The steam rolled up into her face, a comforting feeling, and it helped her relax a little. She stayed like that for a few minutes, just breathing in the warm air until a BLOOP sound made her look up.

The great column down the middle of the room started to do the wheezey  thing and the Doctor flipped a few switches and pulled a lever before giving Rose a small smile and going back about his business, tinkering.

Rose smiled back a little, then made a beeline for the jumpseat, just a few steps from where the Doctor was working. She hopped up and crossed her legs, wrapping her hands around her mug. They were quiet for a while, a comfortable quiet, and Rose found it interesting watching the Doctor 'work'. He'd fiddle with bits, pull things off and shove bits back on, twist wires and poke them where they probably shouldn't go. She was pretty sure he electrocuted himself a little at one point, but she let it go without any teasing. He looked content under there.

"Do you ever sleep?" Rose asked, surprising herself more than the Doctor as her voice echoed across the quiet room.

He inspected the shell-like metal component in his hand for a moment before throwing it away and focusing on something else. "Yes, just... very rarely."

Rose wondered if he didn't often sleep because he couldn't, like her. Maybe he had nightmares too.

"Yes, I suppose so." The Doctor answered. Whoops, maybe she'd wondered that out loud. "But TimeLords require very little sleep anyway, I'm the Nokia to your smartphone." He said, spying though a copper tube to look deeper into the complicated machine.

Smartphone? "But when you do need to sleep," Rose continued, ignoring his comments again, "how do you?"

The Doctor paused his tinkering and looked over at Rose from his spot on the floor. "Are you struggling?" He asked, suddenly very serious and caring.

Rose bit her lip, considering wether to tell the full truth; that over the last few days she'd only managed a handful of hours. "Yeah." She said quietly, pulling a face and looking down into her empty mug, the dregs at the bottom still swirling 'round.

"I can help." He said, climbing out of his tinkering spot and straightening himself out.

Rose laughed as she played with the empty mug. "Nanogenes?" She smiled.

He echoed the grin. "Nah, those things are basic, you need my superior powers." He said, wagging his eyebrows. He wandered closer and leant against the seat where she sat. Rose rolled her eyes but she wasn't annoyed. He always managed to cheer her up. "Telepath, Rose. I can, uh, kinda put all those thoughts into a box, if you like, and hide them away in the back of your mind."

Rose pulled back a little. "So, what? I wouldn't remember any of those things?" She asked, frowning. Sure, they were terrifying but they were mixed up in good things. Even yesterday they'd been laughing and celebrating together in the midst of the chaos. She didn't want to lose both the happy and scary memories. "Any of those adventures?"

"No, no, just the scary bits." He said, wiggling his fingers by his face in a 'spooky' way.

Rose rolled her eyes at his antics and made a smile that she hoped looked convincing. "I'm fine without you shifting through my nightmares. I'll just pick up some camomile tea or something." She said with a wave of her hand, standing and leaning on the console instead.

"Okay." The Doctor replied, sounding a little rejected. "I'll set co-ordinates for a Co-op. We can pop in and get you what you need."

A genuine sigh of relief escaped Rose on a real smile. "Thanks."

 

 

 


	3. Chapter 3

"This is not a Co-Operative." Rose said as she stepped out onto a field of orange grass, eyeing up the white trees in the distance under the turquoise sky.

The Doctors head popped out of the Tardis. "Eh. It's not, is it?" He said with a squint, stepping further out. He stuck his tongue out as far as he could, clearly doing a taste test. "Humanoid... Fifty seventh century, and a," he scanned the horizon where the soft white trees stood. Rose thought the branches looked like feathers. "a zesty, clementine aftertaste like- the Cassavalian Belt that's it. Ohh! Melissa Majoria! Excellent! The bees! Well then Rose Tyler," he grinned, clapping Rose on the shoulder. "welcome to Melissa Majoria. The home of the bees."

Rose blinked for a second, feather trees forgotten, trying to process this new information the Doctor had thrown out there. As usual. "The... bees."

"Yup."

"Bees are alien." She said, but it came out more like a question than she intended.

"Nah," he answered, spinning on the spot and taking in a 360 view.

Rose laughed to herself. God, how funny, she'd actually thought for a second there that bees were from another planet. Travelling with the Doctor was making her loopy.

"only some." He finished with a sniff, strolling off ahead of Rose, his hands tucked into his pockets as he went. "Come on."

After a moment frozen in the Doctors dust Rose decided it wasn't worth freaking out over and jogged after him, looking ahead at where he was heading.  "Is that a market?" Rose asked, peering up ahead where there seemed to be some kind of farmers market going on.

"Sharp as a tack you are." The Doctor smiled down at Rose beside him. She elbowed him in the ribs. "Ow. I mean, yeah, looks like a market."

Rose grinned and forgot her troubles, happy to have alien ground beneath her trainers and an exotic market to go explore.

Which turned out to be not-so exotic.

"Very humanoid." The Doctor said, glancing at the stalls lined up along the field. "Is that a coffee stand? What is this? It's supposed to be the 57th century."

Rose ignored him and went to investigate some of the closer stands. They all looked fairy ordinary. Jam and marmalade stalls, plants and flowers, meats (that looked suspiciously like beef) and a homemade jewellery stall stood to Rose's left.

She wandered over to the pretty necklaces and bracelets that seemed woven with a silver metal rope, colourful stones interlinking each chain and bead. Rose smiled at the woman stood behind the jewellery stand as she braided another bracelet from a spaghetti looking string. She smiled back at Rose with two rows of sharp purple teeth.

Startled, Rose glanced around at the other human-looking people walking by and selling things and realised they weren't so human-looking as they first seemed. Like the guy with fish gills haggling for a small plant and the girl stood behind him with tall spikes on her shoulders. A young mum carrying twins- both covered in beautiful blue swirling tattoos. An elderly woman with a small claw instead of a hand.

Rose turned to see the Doctor talking to a man with shoulder length pink hair and what looked like jewels inset into his face. As she made her way over to them she heard their conversation.

"... Tradition. We honour those of our past." The pink haired man explained to the Doctor.

The Doctor grinned as he looked around again. "Ah! Like a medieval roleplay!"

Pink hair guy frowned, clearly disagreeing with the Doctor but no more annoyed than if a tourist had used the wrong pronoun. "Um, no, there is no playing involved. It's just a simple festival. All over the planet we enjoy simple human pleasantries on this day."

"Oh well, you should be proud. It's very accurate. Almost got me fooled." He said, giving the guy a wink before turning to greet Rose. "Hey you, what've you been up to?"

"Just checking out some jewellery, y'know."

"Eh, you girls and your sparkles." The Doctor mumbled, choosing to ignore Roses lifted eyebrow. "Rose, meet Faria. Faria, Rose." He introduced, "Faria here was just telling me all about the human ancestry here on Melissa Marjoria and the discovery of their history. Apparently," he said with heavy sarcasm, looking purposefully at Rose. "The humans would gather at harvest time and on long hot days to trade in goods."

"Interesting." Rose nodded along, grinning and going along with the Doctor. "Is there a barbecue?"

The Doctor smiled. "Even the people that aren't humanoid tend to wear holograms out of respect on earth days." Faria added, pointing to a nearby bloke who seemed fairly average. "That guy, Paul, he's Saturnynian."

"Great, big, fish people." The Doctor whispered in Roses ear. She blinked and lost track of thought for a minute staring at Paul, trying to figure out if he was traditional mermaid-style fish people or... fish head with legs. "Fish head with legs." The Doctor whispered again, knowing exactly what Rose was thinking. "It was lovely to meet you Faria," the Doctor spoke up a little more loudly, "but we actually only stopped by for a second, we're looking for some kind of camomile tea? Or a lavender formula?"

"It's fine Doctor I'm feeling much better-"

"I don't know camomile, but I often use Lavender in my traditional herbal remedies." Faria said, glancing between the two travellers. "Are you unwell? Lavender is often used for mental health afflictions, restlessness, digestive issues and headaches."

"Calm down Holland and Barrett." Rose joked, to the sound of crickets in reply.

"She means you know a lot about it." The Doctor explained, rolling his eyes at Rose, but she still saw the amused little smile on his face.

Faria smiled. "Well I should do, that's my stall." He said with a point over to a stand that looked like an intergalactic homemade Lush. "Come, come." He beckoned, walking ahead.

Very coincidental, she thought, sizing up the Doctor with a stare.

"What? I didn't plan this. Must've been the Tardis." The Doctor said in his defence, linking his arm through Roses and dragging her along behind the pink haired man.

To be fair to Faria, his stall smelt fantastic. As they approached it Rose could already smell the rosemary, vanilla, green tea and countless others she couldn't name.

The Doctor wiggled his nose. "Bit strong."

Rose laughed under her breath and started poking and prodding at the soaps and butters curiously.

"These are more luxury items, creams and balms for bathing." Faria explained, pulling out pastel coloured boxes and bottles of liquids. "These are my more medical formulas." He said, handing over the bottles and smalls vials. Rose glanced at the labels and handed them over the the Doctor to read and check for harmful chemicals and things that she couldn't explain.

"You have instructions for these too?" The Doctor asked, opening a few and sniffing them.

"Yes, I give leaflets with purchases all about inhalation, bathing, beverages and safety instructions." Faria explained as the Doctor shoved a particularly smelly vial under Roses nose. She coughed and pushed it away with a face. "Not all are pleasant." Faria laughed awkwardly, running a hand through his hair, "but they are healing. Here, this is a Lavender infusion." He said, handing over a thin test tube-like vial.

"Mmm.." Rose murmured, carefully smelling the contents. "What's in this?" She asked, handing it over to the Doctor to check.

"It's a potent blend of Passiflora incarnata, Magnolia bark and of course, lavender. Good for rest. All natural, all earth born."

Rose looked up at the Doctor with raised eyebrows. He nodded with a clear 'why not?' expression. Rose looked back at Faria and smiled. "We'll take it."


End file.
